If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

What are your oppinions on bottemless hives. There was a artice on them in Bee Culture and it seemed like a good idea the only downside was slighty less honey which isnt that important to me. Should I start my first 2 hives bottemless? Would bottemless hives survive cold winters?

I didn't see the article. What was the premise? Was it just an open Screened Bottom Board? Was it totally open? Can things, bees, mice, etc get into the open bottom area? Was there a debris pile underneath? What did they purport to be the advantage?

I have had SBB open but around here I prefer them closed. I am planning to try one with a SBB, a debris pile and an upper entrance.

It was just an open bottemed hive 16 inches off the ground, nothing between the bottem brood box and the ground. It said that the guard bees guard the whole hive instead of just the entrance.Anything that wants to get into the hive from the bottem has to expose its belly and back making it an eaiser target.

Still doesn't sound as defensible. I would be afraid of robbing. That far off the ground sounds like a good thing, but I've seen mice jump just an inch short of the height of a 5 gallon bucket (I know because they get trapped in them. And that was the smaller ones. The bigger ones had already jumped out.

I'm guessing the mice won't jump that high, because I think they like to sneak into a hive while the bees are clustered. But I don't know how it would work. I'm not ready for an open SBB yet.

Your missing the point, there is no flat surface for mice to hide in just a box with frames open to the ground. Robbing is less because of the guards partooling the whole hive, they said that yellow jackets would learn quickly not to mess with the hive because they would be found once they were inside, the hives with a standard bottem board let the yellow jackets have free run of the hive once there in becuase the guards only guard the entrance

IF it is open on the bottom, and somehow supported, the mice could just crawl right up and in. I have seen and caught huge open air hives here, and of course bees live on cliffs many places. I seem to have more moisture problems in my open bottom hives. Any thoughts ? They produce honey just fine.

I think I get the idea. I always thought, from my perspective as the #1 predator who gets into their hive a lot, that I'd prefer there weren't TOO many guard bees.

Try it. It might be a great idea. I'm thinking more in terms of trying to emulate what I find in a tree with a debris pile open to the ground but not a draft down there. I was going to put in the screen to keep out the mice and wax moths that would breed in the debris pile. And I was going to put the entrace up high enough to keep out the mice and the skunks.

Charles Simon's latest article on 'Bottomless Beekeeping' continues his observations and philosophy about modern beekeeping.

Others are reaching the same kind of principles. Check out 'Organic Beekeeping' by Gunther Hawk in the same issue.

I have reached the same conclusions. A live, vital hive that can easily survive is worth much more than a more productive hive that can't survive without contaiminating treatments.

Charles Simon lives in California. I don't think a bottomless hive would be a good idea in Casper, Wyoming with its long, cold, very windy weather. Sixty plus mph winds are not uncommon. Would that be a hurricane in California.

This year I left my SBB open to the ground. I placed the solid board for winter. I counted the mite drop which was 5 or less per week for the 2 weeks I checked. But leaving the bottom totally open I think would cause more problem than it solves. I plan on making some sceened boards to use this year since my other screens are incerts for a regular BB and I will make them with a landing board. I to see healthy bees more important than an increase in production. Another plus I see to using a screen or bottom board is that you can watch them more closely to see how the bee look and what they are bringing in.